Think it over, Bibi: the danger of alienating Diaspora Jews

YEHUDA BAUER
The threat posed by the axis of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas is no right-wing invention but rather reality. Israel’s capacity to face up to this threat, whatever Israeli government is in power, is dependent upon international forces. They will be influenced, as they have been in the past, by the attitude of the Jews of the world, particularly American Jews, towards Israel. Without their support, the State of Israel would not have been established, and it cannot exist without such support today either.

The Israeli government’s policy toward non-Orthodox streams of Jewry, which represent 90 percent of American Jews, threatens the connection that American Jews have to Israel, and is liable to weaken that link to such an extent that it results in apathy and a refusal to act on Israel’s behalf even during a crisis. Simply put, the policy of the current Israeli government is endangering Israel’s existence.

Photo: Protesters outside PM Netanyahu’s residence against the Western Wall deal freeze in July (AFP/Haaretz)